Wellington Dam

With quite a few new members in the club, an insight into the post-Christmas trip to Wellington Dam follows. This trip report was written for the club trip there 4 years ago, and was published in the January 2016 issue of the club magazine. Not in the magazine back then are some links to a couple of videos. One being Rogers Hill, and the other, me, towing a Follow Me camper out. Sean, Ed’.

Wellington Dam Trip

26 December 2015 to 1 January 2016

Participants:

Roger and Karen – GU Patrol 4.2 lit tdi; Mike, Richelle – Toyota Land Cruiser 4.5 lit tdi; Joel and Jared – Suzuki Jiminy 1.3 lit; Don and Jane – GU Patrol 4.2 lit tdi; Steve, Jodie and Michael – Nissan Navara 2.5 lit tdi; Wilco ,Sylvia, Thirsa and Nayeli – Lexus 4.7 lit; Shane and Emily – Mitsubishi Triton 2.5 lit tdi; Sean – Jackeroo 3.5 lit 

Trip Report

Most of the group departed Perth on Boxing Day to ensure that we could get a camping site as you cannot reserve anything at Wellington Dam.  The meeting point for the group this year was the Miami bakehouse. Continuing to Collie, we found the roads to be pretty reasonable without much traffic, and stopped at Collie for last minute supplies and fuel before heading into Wellington Dam, and the camp site that we had discovered last year.

 Despite my concerns about the track the new trailer handled it well. I was concerned that the track may have deteriorated significantly, as Conor and Derek had been on it in winter and had a lot of trouble getting up the track after a lot of rain, as it is red clay and was very slippery. 

Thankfully despite being very washed out with some big ruts and holes, it is passable even for a standard Suzuki Jimny with a couple of inexperienced drivers on L plates. With good instructors, everyone got through without any issues.  We used the tracks around camp to teach Joel, Jared and Michael how to “4WDrive”, they’re all on “L” plates, and did very well by the end of the week. 

The camping spot was beautiful as ever, right on the dam with shade and water frontage in abundance, the water level had dropped significantly from last year so we had a lot more camping room.

It is interesting to note that many of Club members have now changed from tents to camper trailers over the years. Personally we have never found a trailer a hindrance when driving and we like the amenities and comfort it provides.

One day most of the group explored a severe uphill track that tested everyone’s nerves and skills, with considerable manual effort required to track build in an effort to help the Suzuki up.  Despite all the efforts, we needed to winch the Jimny up the final section as it couldn’t get traction despite many valiant attempts and expert guidance from Don.

Some of the group chose to spend the time enjoying the lovely water and reading books, the kids and adults used the kayaks and we rescued our old pontoon that someone had flogged.

Everyone chose to leave on the Friday and come back to Perth after a brilliant time of relaxation, an opportunity to unwind, and still do some challenging 4WDriving. 

Roger